Forgotten Roses
by Atomicwalker
Summary: A different take on Promise of Reunion. Ib gave Garry her handkerchief, but Garry didn't realize he had it until it was too late. How will he find Ib again?
1. Chapter 1

Sadly, I don't own Ib nor the picture I used for the cover. Everything belongs to their respective owners.

* * *

 _Running, panting, screaming, crying…_ Whenever she closed her eyes that's all she heard, all she saw. Her body hurt all over and she felt slightly betrayed, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember anything else. Nothing but the fact that she had come here with her parents and slow got lost in the exhibit. If she thought hard enough, she come see a man lying on the floor. He was tall with floppy hair, but the rest was a mystery. Then, everything; the man, the pain, the betrayal, it all left her and …. She couldn't remember what she was doing.

* * *

She began to wander, through the large and, as far as she could tell, endless exhibit. Looking at the paintings and people, she felt at odds, but she could only wonder why? Why did she feel like she was forgetting something major? As she walked past a floor painting her stomach fluttered and her insides heaved as though she was falling from a great height. She studied the painting at her feet, a large shark that seemed to jump at her from the deep swirling blue that was its home. The feelings in the pit of stomach slowly dissipated and she hesitantly continued her journey through the gallery.

Her legs carried her to a tall rose statue and a man gazing at it. Before she could stop herself, she walked up to the man. He didn't notice her at first, so she tugged gently at his old and worn coat. The man turned towards her.

"Huh? Oh… Hello, little lady. What is it?" She softly asked him what he was looking at. "Hm… Well it's a statue of a rose. I guess…" He trailed off, glancing back at the sculpture, "When I look at this… I feel sorrowful somehow. I wish I knew why…" Shaking his head, he turned back to the girl, "Sorry if I said anything to trouble you, Ib."

His eyes widen by a fraction as he stared at her. "Wait, who's Ib?" She smiled up at him and told him that was her name. "That's your name? It's really Ib?" His hand went up to tousle his purple locks, "That the strangest thing. I mean, I don't know you at all. It just came out, how weird. Perhaps we've met somewhere before?" His arm dropped and he let out a sigh, "Look at me, asking you such strange questions. Well, never mind what I said."

His smile turned sorrowful and there was confusion in his eyes. "Goodbye, little lady." And with that he hooked his thumbs on his pockets and walked away.

At that moment, Ib never thought that she could feel so lost and confused in her life. And later, after her mother had found her and brought her home, her confusion turned to shock as she realized she knew the name of the stranger and he had her missing handkerchief.

* * *

Thank you for reading, this will be continued once I find some more time. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated in the meantime!


	2. Chapter 2

I actually put out another chapter, it's a miracle!

I don't own Ib, if I did would have given Garry different things to say when you talked to him.(And I don't own that pic either)

* * *

He hadn't realized he was so tired until he had reached his apartment. Shrugging off his coat, he hung it off the back of his couch and trudged towards the back of his apartment where his bedroom laid. He could only wish to know the source of his exhaustion, but whatever it was made his feel as though he could barely take another step, if he could he would fall asleep right here, but he desperately wanted to change.

His mind wander back to the little girl at the Guertena exhibit. It was odd that he knew her name and he felt almost sorrowful as he left her at the sculpture. His walk slow to a stop as he thought back to how he felt when he saw her. There was no real way to explain how he felt connected to her or how he wanted nothing more than to give her a big hug and jump for joy at the fact that she was okay. Then he started to scrutinize himself, "You can't just go and some hug random little kid. You be labeled a pedophile. Then, how will you get a job?" He started to walk forwards again only to realize he had been standing right in front of the loose floorboard that marked the edge of the living room. He tripped, cartwheeling forward and landing with a painful thump.

"AH… You stupid panel! Just let me get some sleep!" Frustrated and cradling his throbbing chin, he eased himself back on his weary legs with a hiss and stormed the rest of the way to his bed.

* * *

He felt miserable when he woke up that night. Rolling out of the warm cocoon that was his bed, he forced himself into the bathroom. He slowly shed off the sweaty clothes he had worn that day, his muscles crying out from the strain. Why was he in so much pain? He couldn't think of a single thing that he's done that could cause him to be in so much pain. He had gotten up that morning and ate some granola, made a pit stop at the café down the street for some coffee, went to his classes, stopped at the bakery for some macaroons, and decided to go to the new Guertena exhibit.

His mind drifted and his mind was filled with the small face of the girl he had met at the gallery. Did she have something to with this? He had never seen the girl till that point, but he had known her name. It was so confusing… As he went to check his pants for his phone – not wanting to lose another to the washing machine, that incident had been disastrous – he felt something soft. Pulling it out his eyes were met with a small handkerchief spotted with, what looked like, dried blood.

"How the hell did I end up with this?" Looking closer at the cloth, he saw a small embroidered word in the corner. _Ib. What?_ Then he felt like he had been hit with a ton of bricks. That girl, the one of the Guertena exhibit, she gave this to him. They had been stuck in that hell-hole and he had cut himself on a piece of glass. She gave him the handkerchief to stop the bleeding. "Oh my God..." He needing to find Ib. He had to tell her, remind her of what had happen.

Then he realized, he had no way of finding that little girl. If he went asking around for her, he would either A) be ignored B) get told off for looking for some girl that he didn't know much about, or C) get labeled as a pervert. None of those would get him anywhere in his search. Besides, why look for her? It's not like he would gain from it. But then again, he had promised to buy her macaroons… and to date he has only ever broken one promise, and they were macaroons. If he found her, maybe he could gain something…

But first, he needed to sleep. His brain was desperate for a break from the past few minutes. It was late anyways, so he would sleep then find out what to do in the morning.

* * *

Garry needs to get out more... (I swear this isn't anything Yandere-like, she says making Garry look creepy) I'll try to put out a chapter every weekend just not this weekend since I have to work, hence the early chapter. Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

*Crawls from under textbooks* "I survived!"

* * *

 _ **Thanks for a 100 views!**_

 **Shirou-kun-** I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far. This chapter is a bit longer, but it's also a bit rushed towards the end due to a slight lack of time.

 _I don't own Ib, any of it's characters, or the picture I used._

* * *

"Ib, sweetie, what's wrong?" Her mother looked very concerned, but it wasn't like she could just say what had happened in the gallery that evening. The only person that could even remotely understand what had occurred was Garry and from the encounter with him at the gallery, she doubted that he even remembered her. But then again, she didn't remember him herself. She had only remembered after she saw that her handkerchief was missing. She knew something was up when she had seen him at the gallery and now she just wished that she had made him stay.

"Ib," It was her father's baritone voice that had broken her away from her thoughts, "Are you alright, darling?" She felt so tempted to tell her parents everything, from the lights cutting off in the gallery and everyone disappearing, jumping into the shark painting, and finding Garry to being chased down by horrific paintings and Mary trying to kill the both of them so she could leave the gallery. But she just couldn't see her parents believing any of it, so she took the easy route.

"I'm fine, Papa, just tired is all." Her father smiled accepting her excuse. "Alright then, we'll eat supper then you can go to bed, that sound good?" Ib nodded her head and went to the dining room to wait for her food.

While she waited, Ib began to draw. The drawing weren't anything to gawk at, just simple pencil sketches of some of the monsters she had seen at the Guertena exhibit. She would have used crayons to give the Ladies' dresses some color, but, to be completely truthful, she didn't want to even look at a crayon right now. When she finished the drawing, she gave the mannequin Lady a frown and the Lady in the painting a big grin. While she was deciding if she should let the mannequin keep her head or erase it so she'd look like the ones at the gallery, her father came into the room and peeked over her shoulder to see what she was doing.

"What are you drawing, Ib?" She responded by telling him that they were things from the gallery, finally deciding to erase the statues head. She finished shading in the painting Lady's dress and made a little sign for her picture frame that said 'Lady in Red.'

"Oh, I see. That's one of the mannequins from the upper level of the exhibit and that the Lady in Red painting," Her father said, turning the paper to face him as he looked at it. "I think it's a very pretty drawing, Ib." He turned to face her, "Dinner's almost ready, why don't you go and freshen up?" Ib nodded towards her father, then hopped down from her chair and headed to the bathroom.

When she saw herself in the mirror, she nearly jumped. She looked so tired and _dead_. Her normally vibrant red eyes were dull and her skin looked so pale, even her hair seemed to have lost its shine. As she looked at herself, she started to think of the gallery. _What would've happened if I had left with that copy of Momma?_ As much as the other things wanted to kill her, it wouldn't be that great of a surprise if the copy wanted to kill her too. Then she thought of Mary, how all she really wanted was some friends, to leave her prison. Ib closed her eyes. _She wanted to kill you, don't forget that…_ Ib tried her best to forget about Mary for the moment as she cut off the faucet and went back to the dining room.

* * *

 _She was running, her body and lungs screaming, but she kept going in fear of something else something big coming for her. She couldn't find him, she had lost him and now they were behind her, biting at her heels as she sprinted down the halls. She yelled Garry's name, hoping that he could save her, or at least protect her from the paintings and sculptures and mannequin heads that were practically breathing down her neck, but her screams for help were silent as though they had fallen on deaf ears. When she came to a door, she duck in and shut it fast behind her, remembering the book that said they can't open them. As she tried to catch her breath, she felt a painful yanking feeling in her heart. It felt like someone was plucking at it. She felt a sense of urgency fill her and she began to search through her pockets for… her rose, she didn't have it. She whirled around hoping to find it somewhere on the ground and came face to face with Mary._

 _"_ _Looking for this, Ib," She said almost playfully as twirled the rose around by its stem, "I like yellow, but I think red is much prettier." As she finished her sentence she grabbed two petals and pulled hard. "She loves me not."_

 _Ib gasped and fell to her knees. "Please… stop… it hurts," she begged for her to stop, but all Mary did was pout as she gently stroked at the last two petals._

 _"_ _Aw, but Loves Me, Loves Me Not is so much fun, see!" She pulled off another petal and giggled as Ib doubled over. "She loves me."_

 _"_ _Hey, why are you crying, aren't you having fun?" Mary looked down at Ib with a frown, "Oh, it's because I haven't finish the game yet, isn't it? Don't worry, it'll all be over soon." Mary began to gently pull at the last petal._

 _"_ _No! Please!" Ib shouted at the top of her lungs._

 _"_ _Well that's no fun," And with a wicked grin, Mary flicked her wrist, "She loves me not."_

* * *

She bolted upright and nearly screamed. Her whole body hurt and her heart was throbbing in her chest. Ib hadn't even noticed her shaking limbs until she looked down at her hands holding her duvet in a white-knuckled grasp. Loosing up her hands, she slowly slid out of bed and braced herself against a sudden wave a nausea. She was in desperate need of some water, or anything, so she could rinse this terrible taste from her mouth.

Slipping out of her room, Ib slowly made her way to the kitchen. Slipping around the corner and over to the fridge, she saw something that made her pause.

It was the drawing that she had made earlier and now, in the low light, it looked horrifying. In an attempt to ignore it, she opened the door to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. As she closed the door, she jumped. She could've sworn that the Lady in Red slipped out of her frame a little just then.

"You're just seeing things." She couldn't believe her own words, however, and ripped the drawing off the door. Balling it up as she strode across the kitchen, she chucked it in the trash and went back to her room. Closing her bedroom door, she sat down in front of it and stared through her window. Ib began to cry, she just felt so weak, so broken. As exhaustion swept over her, all she could think about is how lost she felt inside.

She couldn't deal with this by herself. She needed help. She needed Garry.

* * *

That Mary part... This is what happens when I replay Ib and I get a bad ending. WELL THEN, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

_*Ugh* I feel like death._

Sorry for the lack of a chapter last week. I caught the flu and since I'm still feeling a bit sick the chapter is shorter.

I don't own Ib, but I kinda wish I did. I don't own that picture I used either.

* * *

Getting up that morning was difficult. He didn't even remember falling asleep last night, but whenever he did it was late. He knew he would need to get up eventually, but couldn't force his lazy bones from under the covers. When he saw that it was only 7 A.M., Garry decidedly turned over and fell back asleep.

When he woke back up, he felt a lot better. His muscles weren't throbbing anymore and his head wasn't pounding like it had been that night. In his dazed state, Garry wondered if everything had just been some fever-induced dream. Turning over onto his back, he stared at the ceiling.

"It was just a dream, it wasn't real. Ib was a dream." Looking over at the lace handkerchief on his bedside table only made him wish even harder that it was a dream and he would wake up soon. He want to find her, he really did, but he was digging himself into a hole and it was already too deep to jump out of. He's committed himself to finding her, no matter how hard it might be.

His stomach complained and his bladder ached as he shifted to get out of bed. Glancing up at his alarm clock he saw that it was a little after 1 o' clock. Rising to his feet and padding over to the bathroom, he decided that he would deal with his bladder before his stomach.

* * *

He had just climbed out of the shower when he heard his phone going off. Wrapping himself in a towel, he rushed out to see who was calling and seeing that that caller ID was blocked, hesitated.

"Why is it blocked?" Despite his initial hesitation, he accepted the call and lifted it to his ear, "Hello?" The line was dead silent and Garry realized that something had felt off since he looked at his phone. Tring to pin down the source of his discomfort, he tried his phone again.

"Hello? Is there someone there?" Frowning at the quiet that greeted him he tried another approach.

"If this is a prank it's not funny! Call me again and I'll call the cops!" Just as he was about to hang up he heard laughter. Out of curiosity, he brought the phone close to his ear again and listened.

 _"_ _Oh, Garry… It was so much fun playing with you and Ib, but you guys left."_ The voice turned into two speaking in unison and with how they spoke, they could be taken for pouting children, but he knew better.

 _"_ _You left us alone, Garry. Why can you just play with us? Do you not like us? It that why you ran?"_ The voices kept multiplying and it was driving him mad. Did he lose his mind in the Gallery or something? He had to be hallucinating… He just had to be…

 _"_ _It's alright though, Garry. We're still following you, after all."_ Garry's eyes widened as he twirled around on his heels…

And came face-to-face with a big, blue doll that took up half of the room, which he realized wasn't his room anymore.

 ** _"_** ** _Oh, Garry. We were so close to winning our little game. We didn't like how the game ended, so we decided to play again. You ready? Now, who, who has the key?"_**

He hadn't noticed that his eyes were closed, but as he opened them he saw he was in yet another room. This room was one he remembered all too well.

Running to the doll to the right of him he grabbed it and tore at it stitching. Finding no key, he looked at another, then another, and another.

"There's no key! Where's the key!" He paced around the room trying to find a doll that he hasn't torn into yet. "This is bull! There isn't a key in here!" Whirling toward the painting in the front of the room he realized the doll was almost out of its frame.

 ** _"_** ** _Poor Garry. You're out of time."_** As the doll opened its mouth, Garry tried to shield himself from it, backing against the door.

"No, it's not fair! You cheated." Garry heard the laughter of the dolls and then he felt the pain as the big doll bit into his flesh.

* * *

He fell and screamed. Looking around, he noticed that he was in his living room and he had fallen asleep on his couch. Sitting up he leaned his back against the sofa and cupped his face in his hands. Glancing up at the clock on the wall, he saw that it was 5:02.

Standing up, he went into his room to lay down. His brain still couldn't cope with what had happened, he guessed. It was too late to try and find Ib today. He decided to try again after his classes tomorrow.

In the back of his mind, he quietly hoped that Ib wasn't having nightmares too.

* * *

:3 I keep giving people nightmares. I've never actually seen what happens if you fail the doll room, I just know my friend said you get to slap Garry. XD


	5. Chapter 5

**_I'm Back~_**

 _Sorry for such a long hiatus. My computer decided to finally break after 5 years of use and abuse (R.I.P.). But now I have a new touchscreen laptop that is very cool!_

 _I'm putting this chapter out now so you guys won't think I'm dead. Also thank you for over 800 views, you are greatly appreciated. :)_

I do not own Ib or the picture I am using but I wish I did own them for the bragging rights.

* * *

 **Happy Thanksgiving to you Americans out there, may your day be filled with many thanks.**

* * *

Ib didn't want to go to school today. Her head hurt and she was still tired from her trip to the Gallery. She was tempted to ask her mother to say home for the day, but she didn't want to face the questions bound to come up from the request.

Ib sighed, before rolling out of bed. Yesterday had honestly been a lot worst. She had felt exhausted as the previous day had finally caught up to her and her body ached from sleeping on the floor. She could try to power through the day considering she felt about ten times better compared to the past couple of days. Gathering her uniform and backpack from her closet, Ib set them out and got ready for school.

* * *

"Ib, darling, come on before you're late!" Her father called out. Marching out of the kitchen, Ib headed for the door so she could get in the car. Just as she was about to pass through the door, her father's hand came down on her shoulder and stopped her. She looked up at him, curiously, and saw his other hand holding something out towards her. She glanced at the object in his hand and was met with confusion before she realized what it was.

"Your mother found this in your pocket when she was doing the laundry yesterday," He placed the object in his daughter's hand, "She figured you would still want it." Ib looked at the yellow wrapping in her hand. It was the candy Garry had given her.

"Thank you." Ib said kindly to her father, "I forgot that I had it." Her father smiled back at her before guiding her to the car.

"Perhaps you can have it as a treat later. You've been so tired lately, you could use the sugar." They got into the car and took off towards the school.

* * *

Today was one of those days when you wished with all your heart that it was the end of the school day on Friday. Many kids wished that all of the time, but today was one of the few times Ib wished for it. She enjoyed school, she didn't enjoy the company of her peers however. They often teased and picked at her for her blood red eyes, calling her a demon. Normally, she wouldn't be bothered by it, but it was really bothering her at the moment. She was barely half way through the day and she's heard so many people call her demon girl she was starting to lose count. She had simply had enough around the time lunch rolled by and promised herself that she'd tell on the next person the called her a demon. She didn't really care if she was labeled a tattle-tale or a snitch at this point anyways.

She sat away from everyone else during lunch. Not so much because she didn't want to be bothered, but more so because she wanted to think. She thought about the lemon candy in her pocket and had an idea. Maybe she could find out where Garry had gotten the candy from. Though that was a bit of a stretch. There's several places that sold candy in town. Unless she got lucky and the candy came from one of the two actual candy shops it would take forever to find out where it came from. Besides, what would she do afterwards, wait outside the shop and see if Garry would show up? She was pretty sure that there was a law against sitting outside of shops like that.

"Hey. Hey you." Ib glanced over and saw someone trying to get her attention. They turned and talked to their friend for a second before turning and calling for her again.

"Hey Ib. Come here." The boy waved her over. She paused for a second, wondering if the kid wanted her to come over just to mess with her before she decided to join the boy. He smiled at her as she sat next to him. He gestured to himself before he began.

"My name's Thomas, and this," He pointed to the boy sitting across from him, "is my twin brother, Jacob." Jacob waved at her before Thomas began to speak again. "You looked a bit sad sitting all alone over there, so I called you over to hang out with us." Ib thanked them before turning to try and think again. Why were they both wearing sunglasses anyways? She was jolted out of her thoughts as Jacob hit the table in front of her. She looked at him and saw a look of concern on his face.

"Are you okay? I saw some kids messing with you earlier and I couldn't tell if they were just playing with you or not." Ib told him that they were just picking on her and that she was fine. "Why were they picking on you in the first place?" Ib looked at him and frowned. She hesitated before tell him it was because of her eyes. The second it came out her mouth, Thomas started laughing like what she had said was the funniest thing he had ever heard. Ib frowned again before moving to leave.

"Wait!" Thomas said trying to smother his laughter, "I'm sorry, Ib. It's just you should get glasses like us if you don't want to be picked on over your eyes." Ib looked at the two and asked what he meant. The boys took off their glasses and Ib gasped. One of their eyes were a rich hazel color and the other was a light baby blue. They slipped back on their glasses before Jacob explained.

"We have heterochromia. It when one of your eyes is different from the other. It's not that common, but I guess we got lucky or something." Jacob said smiling softly, "We were picked on for a while, but we started wearing these glasses and after a while the bullying almost completely stopped. I mean, we get picked on every once in a while, but not nearly as much as before."

"Hey Ib, where'd you get that candy from?" Thomas point at her tray. "It looks a bit like the candy we get from the specialty shop near our house." Ib didn't even remember putting the candy on her tray, but the information specialty shop caught her attention. She asked him what specialty shop he was talking about.

"The one on Main Street near all of the other shops." She had never heard of that one before, but Thomas seemed to catch her confusion. "It opened up about a month or two ago. So I guess you didn't get it from there?"

"No," She said, "Someone gave it to me and I wanted to thank them for it, but I don't know how to find them."

"We could help you! We could be like detectives!" Thomas said, grinning like a madman, "We could get you some glasses then we could make our own detective group. We could call ourselves the… the… I know! We could call ourselves the Shaded Sleuths." Jacob shook his head at his brother's antics before turning to Ib.

"What's the person's name? It might be easier to help if we knew it." Ib told him that his name was Garry. "Garry, I haven't heard of him before, but who knows? With a bit of luck we might just find him."

Ib smiled at the boys. Maybe today wasn't one of those days after all.

* * *

If you look closely, you might be able to tell that I had writer's block during the second half of this chapter. Thank you for sticking with this mess of mine :)

(The unedited version of this was 1337 words long in my Word doc. D:)


	6. Chapter 6

Wow... You guys are awesome! I hit 1,000 view yesterday! Finished writing this for you all yesterday actually, I would've put it out sooner but I was busy helping my sister with my nephew's birthday. The little man turned two today. :D

* * *

 ** _I don't own Ib or the pic I used for this fic, but I really wish I did._**

* * *

Garry was displeased. He had woken up early in the morning, actually put forth some effort to get ready for both of his classes and lectures, only to find out that neither of his teacher's had shown up. One had left a note on the door saying that, since he felt ill, he wouldn't be there for the next couple of days, and the other had simply not come. Frustrated by the fact that he could've stayed in bed, Garry left the campus, deciding that he was going to treat himself to some lemon drops and macaroons. Headed out to his new favorite shop, his mind wandered from his classes to the fact that he had yet to do much of anything to find Ib.

* * *

He had been wandering the streets for about five minutes going in the vague direction of the shop when he bumped into a woman on the street. Her bag fell from her arm from the jolt, and the items inside emptied out onto the sidewalk. Slightly shocked, and embarrassed from not noticing the woman, Garry quickly bent down and began gathering her items.

"Sorry, Miss, I hadn't noticed you." Garry said softly, handing the woman her things. As he kneeled to retrieve the rest of her things, the woman spoke to him.

"It's fine, darling. I wasn't really looking either." The woman smiled at him, taking the proffered items. "You don't have to do get all of it." She responded, looking as if she felt bad about letting him pick up her things.

"Sure I do. I knocked it out of your arms, so I should pick it up." Garry retorted handing her the last of her things. As he looked up at her, he hesitated. Her eyes… They were the same color as Ib's. The woman must have seen the look of shock on his face because she frowned.

"I must get going, sorry, and thank you." The woman blurted the words as she pushed pass him. Garry heard something fall to the ground and glanced in the direction of the sound. He tried to call to the woman, but she had strode off quickly and was across the street and didn't hear him. Grabbing the object, he looked it over. It was a metallic card holder. He didn't want to open it, but if he knew who the woman was it might be easier to give it back. Then again, he didn't want to be accused for stealing it… and he could go without a criminal record. Ugh, he should have just looked where he was going then he wouldn't have to worry about that.

Realizing that he was, quite awkwardly, stand in the middle of the sidewalk, he began to walk towards the shop again. Glancing around nervously, he pocketed the wallet. He'd go to the police station and give it to the cops. But he really wanted some macaroons so he'd drop it off after his trip to the shop. He'd drop it after just afterwards, definitely.

While he walked, he began to feel bad about being so surprised by the woman's eyes. He had basically ran her off because he had been so shocked by her eye color. At least he can apologize by returning her wallet. Finally, he could see the shop in distance. Walking a bit faster, he crossed the street, moving for the store.

* * *

He had been in the store a total of 2 and a half minutes, and he was already a little upset and, he was sad to say, a bit fatter. There were samples everywhere and he tried something from each little basket. As he wandered towards the middle of the store, he tried maybe seven different things? It might have been eight things but, he wasn't too sure as he had lost count around five. He really couldn't help himself and it was all so sugary and sweet he thought he was going to enter some weird sugar high or something. His disappointment came from the fact that the shop only seemed to have coconut macaroons and not almond. As he scoured the shelves for some macaroons, the bell on the door of the shop chimed loudly. Looking over the aisle in the direction of the door, he saw two children wearing sunglasses chatting to each other as they moved about the shop. Glancing down once more to see if he had over looked the macaroons, he decided he would settle for a bag of lemon drops and wandered in the direction of them.

As he entered the aisle with the lemon drops, he found the two boys from earlier, comparing a piece of candy to one of the ones on the shelf. Getting closer he realized the boys were comparing the types of lemon drops. Not really wanting to disturb them, he reached over them and grabbed a small bag of candy. The kids turned around to look at him and paused. One of them glanced quickly from him to the bag of candy in Garry's hand and to the piece in his hand, then back to him. Feeling a bit awkward with the boy just staring at him, he began to turn and walk away.

"Wait!" One of the boys blurted, "Um… My name's Thomas and this is my brother, Jacob, what's yours?" Thomas grinned nervously up at him.

"Ur… Um… Didn't your parents tell you not to talk to strangers?" Garry looked at the boys skeptically.

"They did but Thomas is an idiot." Jacob glared at his brother before looking back at Garry, "Sorry Mr. we won't bother you again. Come on, Thomas, let's go." Jacob pulled at his brother's sleeve as he stared down Garry.

"Garry, My name's Garry. See you around." Garry waved at them over his shoulder as he turned and strode away. If he had turned around he would've seen the look of shock that flashed across Jacob's face and the excitement in Thomas's smile.

* * *

I have too much fun wit typing Garry's chapters

(The Word Count:999 words before editing)


	7. Chapter 7

**_I'm back~_** But finals nearly killed me ;~;

 _I put my blood sweat and tears into this chapter, mostly tears though because I delete this by accident and retyped it three times because I couldn't decide who was the main character for this chapter... But enough of my complaints, **two more chapters**_ _before I'm finished with this fic unless I feel the need to make another chapter afterwards, so buckle up and get ready for the ending, 'cause it might come sooner than expected ;)_

* * *

 _ **Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, or Happy Holidays. Hope you got what you wanted this year!**_

 _And I don't own Ib or that nice little pic I used for the cover. They belong to their respective owners._

* * *

The first thing she noticed was the deep, crippling darkness that engulfed her whole being. The pain came next, sharp and stabbing all over her small frame. The tears that ran down her face seemed to only worsen her state, causing her to shiver and shake against the pain. Then the screaming pierced her ears and made her question if it her own. Her throat felt like _fire_ and she simply couldn't tell if she was screaming or not. She heard something call her, it was beckoning her, telling her to go deeper, further into the thick darkness before her. It told her not to be afraid and it wasn't until then that she realized she _was_ afraid. The fear gripped her and it was so strong, holding her there, yelling and telling her not to follow the voice into the great dark before her. And she tried to listen, she tried so desperately to listen to it, but something caused her to step forward into the inky shadow in front of her. The glee in the voice calling her made her want to turn tail and run, but she couldn't, all she could do is walk forward into the tangible darkness. The voice in her head, the voice of her fear and better judgement, sounded so disappointed in her, and she wanted to apologize, tell it that she couldn't control her legs anymore, that something was controlling them for her and drove her forward into the blackness.

* * *

After what felt like an eternity of walking, she hit something hard, yet at the same time it was soft, moving slightly at the touch. Finally, the darkness began to recede, leaving her in a dim place that made her eyes struggle to adjust, and when they did, she wanted nothing more than for the memory of it all to go away.

Garry laid there before her, similar to how he looked when they first met, but this time he wasn't breathing and the red stains on his coat nearly made her sob. As she stood there staring, she began to hear a ticking coming from the dark. It sounded familiar but she simply couldn't place it. Sparing the body a final glance, she carefully stepped around it before walk back into the nothingness.

The ticking was uneven and sporadic, going silent for what felt like full minutes before sounding again. When she thought the sound was next to her, she realized that the ticks were clicks and they came in pairs. Moving to her right, the sound seemed to move with her, always about a meter to her right and slightly above her. Then just as she was about to give up on her chase, she remembered and the thought filled her with a cold fear.

The clicking sounded like Garry's lighter, but he was dead, or at the least unconscious a good kilometer behind her. …So who had the lighter?

The lighter sparked and lit up the area, but no one was there, at least she didn't notice before the light went out and was replaced by a roaring fire that crept oh so close and licked at her face. The fear that blanked her roared up like the flames before her. Without thinking, she turned and ran, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. A thought occurred to her as she sprinted from the flames, what if she couldn't outrun the flames, what if they overtook her? Tears streamed down her face as she ran from the thoughts that haunted her, from the flames that warmed her back.

As she ran out of the dark, she realized she was surrounded by the flames. Sobbing, she sank to the ground as the fight left her and fear took over. Covering her eyes and feeling her hands slip on her face from the tears, she heard something. Laughter. Hysterical, ominous laughter that made her blood freeze. She knew that voice.

 _"_ _I thought you were my friend. I thought we could be together forever. But you_ _ **killed**_ _me… you killed me and left… with_ _ **him**_ _. I thought you were my friend, but if_ _ **I**_ _can't have you…. Well,"_ she snickered _"Well I guess no one can."_ And with that the flames consumed her.

* * *

Bwahahahahahahahaha~


End file.
